Original subtitles

♪♪

Man: whoo!

Lots of automotive places Round here

As businesses Each side of the road

Are either scrapping cars Or breaking cars

Or selling old cars.

I do like a scrapyard.

You never know What you're going to find.

You might find the odd Little part.

I'll tell you what, I'm going to pull over,

And I'll choose this one Because it's got

An easy name to remember.

Brewer: once upon a time,

Detroit was the beating heart Of the automotive world.

It was here that the car went From a rich man's luxury

To an everyman's necessity

Thanks to henry ford And the model t.

Now everyone knows that The motor city

Has fallen on hard times,

But I'm here not only To dive into the past,

But to try and find hope For its future.

Now, a lot of people think That the scrapyard

Is the end of the line For a car.

It's their death knell. But actually, it's not.

It's a beginning of a new life For a car

Because most of these cars Get parted out.

You know, you can see cars Have just been stripped bare.

This car has been In a huge accident, here.

Look, somebody's used the jaws Of life, cutting open the roof.

Here you can see the front Wings, they've been used.

The engine is gone.

The radiator is gone.

All the front of the car Is gone, the bumper, the bonnet.

All that's been used elsewhere.

It's just been recycled.

So cars, they may come To the end,

But somehow, They get a new beginning.

I don't think anyone Is going to come in

For a part For that pt cruiser though

Because, well, Nobody likes them.

Look at the rot, this mustang, Look underneath.

Everything is sort of hanging on By a thread.

Look at that on the inner wing Under there,

Rotted out completely.

You really have to make sure

You wash The underside of your car

If you've got a car Up in the northeast.

♪♪

Scrapyard is like A giant metaphor for detroit

Because these cars Were once detroit.

These were motor city Pouring out of the factories

Employing thousands of people.

And when it all went, People expected the city

To just rot away,

Very much like these cars, But very much like these cars

Have been recycled And used again,

Detroit is going Through the same.

It's being reborn.

And although we're in A scrapyard, look at this.

This may look like a weed, But that's life right there.

That's rebirth. That's regrowth,

And like detroit, It's on its way back.

♪♪

♪♪

Everyone knows that feeling of Being on the top of their game,

Not all the time, but we know When we get that feeling.

It's the energy, the buzz, The excitement.

It feels great.

But then there's the other side,

The lows,

And we all know What that feels like.

But then spring comes around,

And there's a new hope

That the new growth Will snub out those lows.

♪♪

Motor city -- look at that.

That's where we are, Big sign up there.

Used to be the city that gave Birth to streamlined production

And manufacturing With henry ford,

And here I am over 100 years later

Driving around in the latest Incarnation from mustang.

The mustang, like detroit, Like ford itself,

Has been through Its own highs and lows,

From the darling Of the automotive world

To, frankly, A bit of a punch line.

It's the new gt350r.

It was built Just outside detroit

At the ford plant in flat rock,

And the r stands for, "Are you kidding me?"

The 526 ponies And the 5.2-liter v-8

Announce with authority That the mustang....

[ engine revs ]

...And that just maybe The city of detroit

Is on its way back as well.

You driving a car Like this around,

You get people pull up to you And go...

Give you a little knowing nod As if to say,

"Right on, brother.

You've got A nice set of wheels."

[ engine revving ]

This car wants to be On the racetrack,

But the streets of detroit Will have to do for now.

The people round here, I don't know what you call them,

Detroitonians, detroitists? They're resilient.

The city is resilient,

And you can see it Absolutely everywhere.

The musical Performer-producer-artist

Jack white, Now he's very famous,

And he's chose to open up His very own record store

Right there.

Yep. He's printing his vinyl Right there.

Impressive.

♪♪

You can't go forwards Without looking backwards,

And this is where it all began For henry t. Ford

When he started The ford piquette plant.

This is the place where modern Car manufacturing took place,

And here I am over 100 years Later in the latest incarnation,

Which I think mr. Henry ford Would approve of.

This is a vision and A core value that he started,

And it's still being utilized By every car manufacturer today.

You can't say fairer than that, Can you?

Hey, You want to come in?

Brewer: really?Absolutely, man.

Oh, man that would be great. What's your name?

Jeff. Jeff, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Thank you very much, buddy, Seriously.

I get to look inside.

Oh, yeah. I didn't expect this.

Oh, look at this!

Seriously!

Get in.

So this is the old Factory floor, is it?

Jeff: yep. They used to build cars by hand

In between each one Of these pillars.

This is the birthplace Of the model t.

The story of 20th-century america

Began in this very room,

Right here, this room.

Henry ford walked around there.

Without him, Without the model t,

I might be selling steak knives Door-to-door,

So you can say My story begins here as well.

Well, these two cars here Were built over on mack avenue,

So they were built in a basic Converted carriage shop.

Look at this, The 1903 ford model a tonneau.

How nice is that, eh?

Absolutely fantastic.

So the next one Is a really rare car.

This is the model b.

Right here. Yep, model b.

This guy, there's about Seven of these left.

In the world? Yep.

Well, let me have A little touch.

Do you mind? Go for it.

Ah.

This feels like church For a petrolhead,

Like I'm getting a chance To see and touch

The cars that are almost holy.

That is stunning.

Isn't that beautiful? Look at that.

The model k, which is an Absolutely stunning automobile.

That's wonderful, isn't it? Look at that.

Then right here, We have why we're here,

The first model t Of the 12,000,

Or 15 million Was built here.

First 12,000 Were built on-site.

And the wings and the mustache On the ford logo

Is unique to piquette.

Henry ford may not have Held the spanners,

But he was the captain Of the ship,

And it's astonishing to walk In his footsteps.

Is this really His office?

This is an exact re-creation Of his office.

Is it really? Look at that.

There's one photo Of his office.

We had an industrial Archaeologist come in,

Do research for us, Do paint peelings,

Do as much work As possible.

He went back To 1904 catalogs,

Got original paint Off the walls,

The original tile Off the floors.

We redid the safe door Out of wood instead of metal.

We've got the exact pictures On the wall.

We redid the desk down To the last tiny imperfection,

And there you have it.

If this building is A petrolhead church,

Then this room is the shrine To the man that made it happen.

It's like seeing the pope's Bedroom or something.

Well, jeff, man...Pleasure meeting you, man.

No, It was real, real honor.

Real honor. Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you very much.Good to have you.

I can't imagine anywhere That tells the story

Of old detroit better Than that museum.

Now, there's a bit of history

That I really want To check out,

And I've been told I absolutely can't miss it.

♪♪

Look at that.

The owner, ellie, Has been serving this,

This world-famous coney dog To millions of people

All over the world, Loaded up with chili and onions.

Oh, that is delicious!

♪♪

♪♪

[ engine revs ]

There's something Slightly addictive

About doing that With this car.

♪♪

I know it's down This street somewhere.

I'm looking for...

Well, it's a building with...

Oh, this looks like it. Yeah.

C.H. Schultz and sons, This is the one.

Got a classic car Out on the forecourt,

Which is always nice to see.

Right. Let's go meet them.

While much of that automotive History has moved away,

There are still shops here And there that are a link

Between that glorious past And the rebirth of today.

I've discovered maybe The oldest upholstery shop

In the whole state with A legacy of three generations

And over 100 years In the making.

Their first customer Had a horse and buggy.

I'm going to meet the owner. She's called deborah,

And she's the steward Of all this history.

Look at the size of it!

Deb! So nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you finally, Mike.

Oh! Mwah!

What a place!

You know, This is something.

You can feel the history.

As I walked in the door, I could feel the history.

I could.

The only thing I'm confused About is the sign

Because it says, "Schultz and sons."

Surely it it should say, "Schultz and daughter."

"Sons" Is my dad and my uncle.

Yeah.So c.H. Is my grandfather.

Yeah."Sons" is my dad and my uncle,

And we, the third generation, Is the little "Inc." on the end.

The little "Inc." On the end.

I want to get up there And write "Daughter."

That's what I want to do.No.

So three generations of doing Upholstery in this area,

So how far back Does it go?

1917.

1917, So over 100 years ago.

Down the road in detroit,

You've got henry ford Making the model t,

And yet your family Were already doing upholstery.

Actually, my grandfather Started at buick...

Right. ...In '08.

Wow, and he learned His craft there?

Yes. That's fantastic.

And then worked at home In the garage...

Yeah....Because they had seven kids.

Seven kids?

They had no televisions Back then, did they?

They had to find something to do In the evenings.

Seven kids? Seven kids.

Was that your granddad?

Yes. Your poor grandmother.

I bet you She was exhausted.

She was a sweetheart.She was -- I bet she was.

Yeah, You could always spot her.

She was the one that was Just knackered all the time.

"I've got seven of them, Seven kids."

But they were Way far apart.

Oh, were they? Yeah.

She had a little bit of gap Between them.

So when was the first time You went and played

With the sewing machine?

8.

8 years of age?8 years of age.

So from the age of 8, you're Already on the sewing machine.

And today, you're running The business,

And you're doing cars Like this wonderful

Cadillac over there, are you?Yes.

And what is this one That you've just finished?

We just finished that.

And is that -- What car is this one for?

That's for A ford pickup.

You've just done this for -- I'm going to say, right,

Now, I've been into a fair few Trim shops in my time, right?

You can always tell history And quality

When you touch The material,

And you can just feel it In this seat.

I can just feel it, deb. I can't --

The piping on this Is exquisite,

And the stitch lines are just Absolutely arrow-straight.

♪♪

And then we've got This great big cadillac.

So, deb, look at the work here! Wow!

So somebody just lands stuff Like this on your doorstep,

And they say to you,

"Go at it, deb," You know, "Do your best."

I mean, I wouldn't know Where to start. Look at it.

Deborah: All of this came in boxes.

We had to put All of this together.

This '58 caddy is just The latest

In the long line Of classic cars

That have rolled Through this shop.

Whatever the era, Whatever the job,

Deb and her family Have sorted it out in style.

So who does the work? Matthew.

Matthew, should we go round And meet him?

Sure. Yeah.

Which is the quickest --

Go that way.Let's go this way, yeah.

So is matthew a member Of the family?

No, I have no family here.

What? No family.

In a family business, I have no family.

Hey, matt. How are you, bud?

Good, mike. Nice to you meet you.

Very nice to meet you, Too.

All right. How you doing?Yeah, very, very good matt.

So this looks familiar to me. All right.

What, just putting the new cover On the seat, are you?

Yep. This is off of a jeep.

We're going to give it A makeover, some custom stuff.

This is obviously The factory upholstery,

So we're going to do it Our way

And the way The customer wants it.

I'm quite a good dab hands With the old glue,

A screwdriver, And the old hog ring,

One of these little things, So I want to get involved.

What can I help with?

Well, I have a headliner Over there I've been working on.

Nice.I'd like to finish that up.

Cool.

Let's have a look At this headliner.

Where is it, over here?Yep.

Really because this, to me, Right,

Why you'd need to camo The headliner of your truck?

So you can't see it?

It's a fashion Statement.

Yeah.It's a fashion statement.

We have camo hats and pants And shirts.

We're going take it off and put Just a plain gray one on here.

Which I think would look Much nicer,

Just as the truck designer Intended.

Matt, watch and learn, Watch and learn.

See this bit, matt, That's the old mat.

But this stuff here, Look, this is new mat.

See that? Oh, yeah.

They even left you That little sample

So you can know What it feels like.

See how nice and clean It comes off in one piece.

Look at that.

You made easy work out of that, Buddy.

So I could say I could make Myself a nice camo, well...

You want me to tie it In the back?

I could do.

Yeah, I could make myself Something nice and camo.

I got some pins. You want me to get them?

Which would make me Disappear...

Yeah.

...Which is what a lot Of people would prefer.

If I do this, Have I disappeared?

No.No, I haven't, have I?

That's why camo for me Just doesn't work,

So that can go Squarely in the...

Yes, it may.We call that a bin.

What do you call it?Trash.

Mm, see, another word We don't use.

So what's next?

Well, the next step is to cover It up with a new headliner.

Right, cool. Have we got one?

We do.

Matthew has been at this For five years,

So his skill dwarfs anything I might bring to the table,

But I'll have a go anyway.

I love this part.

How am I doing? Is that good coverage?

I would give it a little more Than that.

Yeah. You would? Okay.

So you want A bit more coverage, like that?

Yeah.And how do you like the smell?

I love the smell, Actually.

I've never felt so joyous For an afternoon's work.

No wonder everyone wants A job at spraying.

How's that?It's fantastic.

Is it? Yeah.

Good job.Pound it.

See, my americanisms, I'm getting on with it.

So I'm going to take this one And bring it right to me, yeah?

So that's good so far?

Yeah, we're just going to Work our way to the ends.

Never underestimate the value Of well-done interior.

You spend more time looking At the inside of your car

Than the outside,

And nothing can ruin Your driving experience

Quicker than a headliner Drooping in your face.

There's just something really Nice and therapeutic

About doing this, Isn't there, deb?

It is very -- It is nice.

Yes.You're sort of just, you know,

Rubbing and caressing And, you know...

It's because you're a male.

Well, of course.

Of course it's because I'm a male.

Your face is red.I know my face is red.

It's rubbing this.

It's rubbing this whilst having A conversation with you.

It's embarrassing.

So that's one half, Is it?

That's one half.

Look at that.

That's how you do a headliner, That is,

Right there, Me and the team here.

Only been here But 10 minutes

And already She's got me working.

♪♪

Sorry.

I'm not standing Over there.

No, no, no. I like the way deb just runs.

The way you just Run around the business.

This is the day where you go, "Do you know,

I really regret turning up In my nice black outfit."

♪♪

Right. So look.

Deborah: Now you're on the home stretch.

Yeah, look at that. Look at that.

Seriously, ta-da!

That is just fantastic, Isn't it?

I mean, we haven't really done Anything with the camera in,

Like, 10 minutes.Right.

This was a camo Nasty-looking headliner,

And then with The skilled workmanship

Of young matt here...Yes.

...Look. It just looks incredible.

It looks like It's brand-new.

The one thing that worries me, Though,

After working with you two

And seeing your fantastically Close relationship,

Is what happens next, deb, Because you said to me earlier,

As we walked across, you've got No family to leave it to.

I have a head technician Who isn't here today

That will take over.

You have. Yes.

So there is somebody Who's going to carry on

The family tradition, The family name for you?

Yes. He is who we are today.

That is fantastic.

His quality is exactly Who we are.

Oh, that is fantastic.

In fact, we joked this morning, "The boss isn't here yet."

Right, so that's brilliant Because, you know,

My worry is that this amazing Thing that you've got,

102 years of age, Will just dwindle and die.

But no, You've got somebody

That you can hand The business on to,

And obviously if you've Got staff like matt,

This business is Going to flourish

And live for many years.

Yeah, it's been a real Pleasure to meet you both.

Thank you...You too, mike. Thank you.

...For giving up Your time today.

Deb, thank you, darling.

It's been so nice to hang around With you and to just delve into,

You know, what makes a shop Like this work and tick

And just how important It is to the industry.

Because let's face it,

You're in the heartland Of motor city, america...

We are....In the heartland,

And everyone goes on

About how detroit And the surrounding areas

Is going into decay, But this business is thriving.

Oh, we're busier Than we've ever been.

Fantastic. That's all that matters.

Yes.

If you come here to detroit, You'll see it is

Not what you think from Watching television.

The tough times May not be over,

But the tide has Definitely receded.

You see it in the hard work Put in by the people here,

By the skills handed down Generation to generation,

By the incredible cars Like this mustang

That are rolling off Assembly lines.

Hard work built this city The first time around,

And hard work can bring it Back from the brink.

America loves a comeback story, And detroit's comeback,

Well, it's just beginning.